Powerful
It's based on a 15th century poem of like name by Malik Muhammad Jayasi, on Rani Padmini, queen of Chittorgarh in the 13th century, medieval India.
The first half of the film is almost like a lead up, a building of context, you get to know each of them from the inside, and then you see how the dynamics pit against one another.
Two more characters that make a strong impression are Allauddin's wife Meherunissa, who we meet as a young and impressionable girl and her transformation as she realizes what she's married to, through to her finding her own strength. Powerful performance, and very pretty too.
The other is Malik Kafur (Jim Sarbh) a slave cum companion to Allauddin. I thought it was bold how you see not just commitment but also love and lust for each other. Bansali let him wear his bisexuality with a casualness and ease that felt bold for hindi mainstream cinema. Nothing effiminate or gay there....macho bisexuality is what one sees. You can tell from the laughs that there's a nervousness there rather than humor.
The film is rife with symbolism, be it in the colour schemes, the sound tracks the cinematography....so much attention to detail, that I feel I could watch multiple times and see more each time.
When the movie ended, I couldn't get off my seat. I like sitting till the credits roll out...but this time round I knew it was more...... I wasn't ready to step out of the story yet. That intense.
It's based on a 15th century poem of like name by Malik Muhammad Jayasi, on Rani Padmini, queen of Chittorgarh in the 13th century, medieval India.
It has for framework the period when Jalaluddin Khilji came from Afghanistan to conquer Delhi. His nephew is Allauddin Khilji, who we may remember from our history books for being a tyrannical ruler who ruthlessly conquered the smaller Rajput kingdoms, and made them part of the Delhi Sultanate.
The film opens with the Khiljis. We meet Allauddin Khilji as a man who has scant respect for rules or for women or even for people....and we later see that he has respect for nothing, value for nothing. He gets what he wants, and he now has his eyes set on Padmavati, and what starts as a fad, becomes an obsession to the almost clinically narcissistic Allauddin.
When we first meet Padmaavati, at a hunt in a forest, you see a free spirited woman, joy in her eyes, air under her feet....her courage, valor...it's all there. And if the movie ends with her decision of 'jauhar' you know it's the very same will and valor that's playing out. A clear choice. A preference to take ones own life rather than go through enslavement and rape, a known outcome of a war lost to Allauddin.
Padmaavati, known for her intelligence, sense of justice and exceptional beauty, becomes queen of Maharawal Ratan Singh, the King of Chittorgarh. The chemistry between them is palpable, and the connect while at one time deep, is also deeply differentiated, making it an interesting dynamic.
You can feel for (or with) Padmaavati, and yet understand Ratan Singh, for his steadfast thinking, and even what can seem like tactically bad decision making, knowing they come from a single minded alignment to principles.
(Interval discussion I'm telling Dhruva how she seems more sensible and right, and he's like, "ma, look at what it takes to be that guy, his clarity, his principles, what we need at the helm today are people like him")
The first half of the film is almost like a lead up, a building of context, you get to know each of them from the inside, and then you see how the dynamics pit against one another.
Two more characters that make a strong impression are Allauddin's wife Meherunissa, who we meet as a young and impressionable girl and her transformation as she realizes what she's married to, through to her finding her own strength. Powerful performance, and very pretty too.
The other is Malik Kafur (Jim Sarbh) a slave cum companion to Allauddin. I thought it was bold how you see not just commitment but also love and lust for each other. Bansali let him wear his bisexuality with a casualness and ease that felt bold for hindi mainstream cinema. Nothing effiminate or gay there....macho bisexuality is what one sees. You can tell from the laughs that there's a nervousness there rather than humor.
The film is rife with symbolism, be it in the colour schemes, the sound tracks the cinematography....so much attention to detail, that I feel I could watch multiple times and see more each time.
It's also very different from his earlier large canvas films like Bajirao Mastani or Devdas. While I loved both those films as well, they had as strength, romance, war, love, settings, costumes, grandeur. Here it's like all that goes into background. Foreground is the people, the psychological space, their inner personalities, each standing strong to their own spirit and will.
I'm amazed that there are so many negative reviews starting right from muslim denigration and jauhar romanticizing and non detailing of settings and costumes.....why is it that people will see whats 'negative' or 'not there'. What would it take to see it as a depiction of history from the 13th century without having to judge.
A visually and psychologically spectacular movie !
I agree! What left me deeply disturbed and conflicted is sticking to one's principles knowing that they will be abused and used against you. With what principles and thought of outcome does one walk into a battle with an opponent whose only rule of war is to win? Staying steadfast to the "means" at the risk of not achieving the "end"... how does one think about it?
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